ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
ALVA Woodpeckers build home in Alva woman’s house You may have heard of squatters, but this woman is dealing with squawkers. Who needs a rooster to wake up when you have woodpeckers?
FORT MYERS Man claims he was trapped in a high-rise for 5 days A 77-year-old man wants justice after he claims he spent days trapped on the 24th floor of a high-rise apartment building.
PUNTA GORDA Charlotte Correctional prisoner arrested for death of another inmate State Attorney Amira Fox convened a grand jury, which decided to move forward with a case against a Charlotte Correctional inmate.
SANIBEL Construction near Dairy Queen eagle nest on Sanibel raises concerns While many eagle nests may be a bit difficult to see, one nest has always been a favorite for Sanibel residents and tourists.
The environmental effects of artificial sweeteners Experts are studying how the foods we eat affect the environment, especially after we flush our waste down the toilet.
Victim reacts to man exposing himself to her Ring camera You get a notification on your phone from your ring camera app that someone is at the door, only to find out it is someone exposing themselves. It’s the last thing victim Maria Kivi wanted or expected to see last week.
LEE COUNTY The art of capturing your eye and drawing you in How do you capture young, hip, trendy, fun, movers and shakers, all in a pose? We take you behind the scenes of a Gulfshore Life cover shoot.
FORT MYERS The lives of two SJC Boxers changed in the ring Two SJC Boxers, Mario Nunez and Arbon Kurtishi, help each other in the ring as each of them had their lives changed because of boxing.
FORT MYERS Chlamydia cases rising sharply in Lee County If you think about a crowded space- something with more than 250 people- if it’s in Lee county, statistically one person has chlamydia.
SANIBEL Sanibel resort day passes hope to get more business on the island A pass will allow vacationers to hang out at a Sanibel beach club for a day in hopes of drumming up some business.
Voting equipment tested ahead of Lee County elections Voting equipment is being tested in Lee County. This is to ensure all ballots are printed and counted correctly for the upcoming election.
Collier County teen assaulted after leaving party The teen has been charged and the sheriff’s office said they’re aware that many believe felony charges are in order, but under Florida law, there are very specific criteria that must be met for felony charges to be filed.
WINK weather team watching tropical wave over Atlantic Ocean The Weather Authority is watching a tropical disturbance over the Central Atlantic Ocean.
CAPE CORAL Cape Coral drug bust leads investigators to fake fentanyl, cash and guns Cape Coral man arrest on drug charges. Investigators said they found, guns, drugs, and more than $32,000 in Richard Riley’s home.
NAPLES Naples youth flag football team to compete in Ohio tournament This weekend, the Naples Lunatics Green will compete in the Superhero Sports tournament in Canton, Ohio.
As Southwest Florida continues to heal after Hurricane Ian, so do its waterways, but one area is experiencing something that may have you doing a double take. There are bright, almost neon green, algae in the waters off Sanibel. It’s hard to miss. “Especially on the causeway, you will notice it when you’re driving across with low tide. But we see it all around Sanibel, even on the beach side. It’ll be growing on one sea walls,” said Rick Bartleson, a scientist with the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation’s marine lab. “It’s a macro algae called Ulva.” Green algae. (Credit: WINK News) Bartelson said it likes to grow on hard surfaces like the boat ramp at Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation’s marine lab. “It’s nontoxic. It’s it frequently grows in patches and dense patches like this,” Bartleson said. When the conditions are right, it needs spores, a surface to attach to, and Bartleson said there’s not much feeding on this algae right now, like snails, for example. Green algae. (Credit: WINK News) “So the lack of grazers could be partly due to the red tide,” Bartleson said. “We’ve been having the red tide can kill grazers or slow their growth.” And the green algae does have plenty of nutrients, so does the red tide in these waters. “We’ve been having high concentration the last few weeks around the causeway where I’ve been sampling and in Tarpon Bay,” Bartleson said. Bartelson’s samples showed medium concentrations of red tide out in the mouth of Tarpon Bay and high concentrations around the lighthouse. The green algae is not shocking this time of year, but the presence of both can be worrisome. The color of the water can tell us a lot about its quality. “So the red tide algae has a variety of pigments. One of them is red, one of them’s brown, one’s green.” At the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundations marine lab, the red tide is so dense Bartleson can see it on the water. “If you look at those streaks right there. Those are the kinds of they’re under the water. Those are red tide streaks” Streaks of red tide in the water at Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation’s marine lab. (Credit: WINK News) “Right here, we have almost 10 million cells per liter yesterday,” said Bartleson. One million cells per liter is considered a high concentration, but is there another significant red tide outbreak on the horizon? No. “The wind pushed the red tide up in here to get it started. So it’s, it’s not like growing in here, at this density and incubating and getting more dense, it’s getting pushed in here,” Bartleson said. Which explains the astronomically high red tide cell counts. Further out in Tarpon Bay and around the causeway, Bartelson’s test result shows medium concentrations. If you move your eyes from the brown, red, and green shades of red tide, you see a different shade of green from macro algae called Ulva. Green algae. (Credit: WINK News) “The decomposing algae can be one of the sources of nutrients for red tide. So that is is a way for the green algae to make the red tide algae worse,” Bartleson said. The converse is true too. The red tide hurts the grazers, like snails, that control the green algae. “So in that case, if the red tide helps the green algae and then the green algae decomposed helps the red algae, then that’s a positive feedback loop,” said Bartleson.